Oom pah pah! On Tuesday, October 29, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra League gathered at the Roper House to kick of their 2019-2020 Revels Season with an Oktoberfest Celebration. Featuring lively music provided by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Polka Band, as well as german food and drink — wursts, pretzels, and a variety of brews — it was a lovely evening on the High Battery. Watch a clip of the band playing the Chicken Dance! Click below to enlarge photos.
SEMC at Roper House
On Tuesday, October 21, 2019, a group of 40 museum professionals from across the southeast gathered for a lovely reception at the William Robert Roper House in Charleston as part of the 2019 Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) Annual meeting. The event was a celebration of SEMC’s leadership, partners and generous contributors to the endowment. Guests enjoyed cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the garden, the gorgeous interior spaces and a stunning sunset. A trio of talented young musicians from the prestigious Charleston County School of the Arts provided beautiful music to further enhance the evening. This memorable experience was made possible …more
Grad. Students Study at Roper
Over the past several months students from the Clemson University / College of Charleston Graduate Program in Historic Preservation have spent time at the Roper House and completing a Historic Structure Report. The students researched the history of the home, studied the architecture, and reported on the home’s condition, identifying historically significant and original features. The detailed report includes a chronology of the house’s history starting on May 25, 1839, when Robert Roper purchased the lot of land, and through December 10, 2018, when Classical American Homes Preservation Trust took ownership of the property, devised by CAHPT founder Richard H. …more
2017 Annual Report
Dear Friends, Donors, and Preservationists, We are excited to announce the release of our 2017 Annual Report! This special report features a memorial to CAHPT founder Dick Jenrette, who passed away in April of 2018. The cover of this report features the double parlors at Roper House. The Roper House is featured prominently in this report in honor of the 50th anniversary of Dick’s career in preservation, which began in 1968 with his purchase of the house. Historic photos dating back to the 1870s and through the present illustrate the house’s history through the Siegling, Guggenheim, Hastie, and Jenrette eras. …more
Spring/Summer Newsletter
Click on the image of the Summer / Spring 2017 Newsletter (at right) to read the latest issue. In this issue: Read about the history of music at our houses, in “Tradition of Music Continues at Classical American Homes Preservation Trust” and listen to a sample of period harp music, similar to what Mrs. Donaldson might have played at Edgewater. Catch up on the latest news regarding the Conservation of Capitals at Millford, including detailed images of the disassembly of the capital and the discoveries during the process. An update from Ayr Mount and what’s new on the trails! …more
2016 in Review
This past year has been a celebratory one! With Classical American Homes and our respective Co-Presidents being the recipients of awards in the field, new programs such as the Fakes, Forgeries & Reproductions workshop offered, the unveiling of a bridge at Ayr Mount, and the 175th Anniversary of Millford, and more! Read on. Wunsch Award – Peter Kenny and Morrison Heckscher Classical American Homes’ own Peter Kenny, Co-President, and Morrie Heckscher, Emeritus Chairman of the American Wing, were the honorees of the 2016 Wunsch Award. Christie’s hosted the fourth annual Eric M. Wunsch Award for Excellence in the American Arts on January 20th, …more
Tours – Autumn 2016
Friends and Visitors Tours at our houses in New York to South Carolina As we transition into the last quarter of our 2016 tour season, each of the houses remaining very busy with tours and special events. Since Labor Day, the following groups have visited Edgewater: The Clark Art Institute, the Rockford Art Museum, Highlands- Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Historic New England, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Collectors from Laguna Beach, California. At the Baker House, there was also a presentation and cocktail reception for the Friends of Boscobel House and Gardens, a …more
Annual Report
Dear Friends, Donors and Preservationists, We are pleased to share with you our Annual Report 2016! This report – featuring Roper House (on the cover), located in Charleston, SC – highlights Classical American Homes Preservation Trust’s nascent beginnings. Richard H. Jenrette, Founder and Chairman of CAHPT, writes about his “first real estate acquisition in 1968” and the “beginning of a nearly 50-year personal hobby in historic preservation.” An overview of all six of our houses, including a description of our programs and audience members, is provided by Margize Howell and Peter Kenny, Co-Presidents. Sign up on our website to receive our mailing or …more
Winter/Spring 2016 Newsletter
Enjoy our latest Newsletter – full of great articles, updates on events and tours at our houses, as well as pictures of new and familiar friends! Click here to read the Winter/Spring 2016 issue.
Annual Appeal
This coming year will mark the 60th year since I first set foot on Wall Street, a place that today, more than ever, seems enamored with the search for “disruptive” new technologies. In our day, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a firm I founded with two Harvard Business School classmates that went on to become the first publicly-owned New York Stock Exchange member firm, was certainly disruptive. But I never really liked the word disruptive. What has all this got to do with historic preservation and Classical American Homes? Some things need to be disrupted and changed, but equal zeal is often required …more
